Gangs, Pushers, and Users
by troublesfriend
Summary: Cody and Sydney have always been friends, and the Outsiders were almost their gang, but then Syd and Cody run into problems that only they can face on their own, the only question to ask is, will they be friends when it's all over?
1. Beating up Darry

Sydney started down the road, and grinned as she heard the chanting of her neighbors. "They're at it again." She poked Cody in the ribs.  
  
Cody looked over where Syd was pointing, "A cult meeting?" she asked with a grin.  
  
Syd shrugged. "I dunno. Do I LOOK like I know?" She laughed slightly. "That one kid's cute."  
  
Cody grinned, "Wanna go see what they're up to?"  
  
Syd laughed. "Did you even have to ask?"  
  
"Only to reassure myself."  
  
Syd laughed again. "I'm not surprised. Lead the way, buddy ol' pal. I'm due for a visit to Soda."  
  
"Yeah, and Steve's bout ready for an ass kicking."  
  
Syd shook her head. "I think that's Darry."  
  
"He's a scary fella I won't mess with him."  
  
The two girls started off towards the small group of guys.  
  
Syd smiled at Soda. "Long time no see, Sodapop!" His permanent smile brightened a little. She waved at the rest of the gang. "Hey, Darry?"  
  
Darry looked up from where he was reprimanding a shorter kid with auburn hair, greased back in traditional Greaser style.  
  
She grinned, raising her chin a bit to look him in the eyes. "I've taken on every one of your gang, 'cept you. When do I get to KICK YOUR ASS?"  
  
Darry gave Syd his best menacing grin, "When you can beat me."  
  
She shrugged. "Whenever you quit hiding behind your kid brother, call me." She winked slightly, and then punched Soda playfully in the arm. "Where ya been?"  
  
"Working, where else?"  
  
Syd shrugged. "I don't know. Where ya guys headed?"  
  
"I dunno, to wreak some havoc?" Soda smiled evilly.  
  
Syd raised an eyebrow. "It's only havoc if I cause it. Mind if I join? And Cody too."  
  
Darry shrugged, "I suppose."  
  
Cody gave him the evil eye, "You suppose? Me and Syd could take you right here, right now."  
  
Syd laughed, and hooked her thumbs in her pockets. "Yeah, Superman. Right here, right now." She slipped a cigarette from Two-Bit's pack without him noticing, and then lit up.  
  
Darry looked at the two girls like they were crazy, sizing them up. Syd was a medium sized brunette, with a tough looking scar running down her arm. She was pretty, and skinny, but too smart to go to far with guys. Especially when fighting. Cody was a tall boyish looking blonde, not too much to look at, but a hell of a fighter. She was moderately lean, given she ate anything set in front of her, Darry laughed, "You two seriously want to take me on?"  
  
Syd poked Cody. "You wanna kick some ass?"  
  
"Definitely Curtis ass," Cody retorted, "I'll go for the legs." Both girls knew that the only way to take down Darry was to take out his legs.  
  
Syd nodded slightly, and leaped at his torso, while Cody leaped at his legs. "You....should...know...better...than to...Oh Shit." As she had went to slam her arm into his chest, it missed, and hit a tree. She yelped lightly, clenched her fist an unclenched it, and then went back to fighting Darry.  
  
Darry was now flat on his back with Sydney on his chest taking swings at his face while Cody watched from somewhere near his feet. Darry was deadly on his feet, but once on the ground he was easy as pie to finish off, which is why Cody left the dirty work to her friend, two people weren't needed for a job that one person could easily do now.  
  
Sydney threw punch after punch, while cussing him out. Her hand hurt like hell, but she didn't care. It took a lot to get Superman on the ground, and she and Cody had done that. She grinned, and got off of his chest. "Told ya." She didn't want to beat him TOO bad.  
  
"I'm ashamed!" Two bit moaned, "Our Superman was taken down by two broads!"  
  
Sydney grinned seductively, and stalked over to him. "How ya been?" She winked to give that sexy effect.  
  
"Sorry man, you're not blonde," he said and ran for his life.  
  
"You saying blondes are easy?" Cody called to him before chasing after him.  
  
Syd looked at Cody, and then shook her head. She'd expected that. Even when she was having fun, she was put down. She sighed, and checked out her hand. It was bruising nicely, and bleeding bad. "Shit."  
  
Cody launched herself on Two Bit's back dragging him to the ground, "Code, I didn't mean it, I wouldn't try for you, I was just sayin----"  
  
Syd laughed. "Down Cody. Here girl!!" She looked at Johnny. "How ya been?"  
  
Darry looked over, "Lay off him Code, and shut your trap Two Bit, you're just digging yourself into one huge hole."  
  
Cody leaped off of him and went back to where the rest of the gang was standing. Syd shook her head. "You'll never learn Two-Bit. Never." She held up her hand. "Cody, Look at it. It's dead. It died when it hit the tree. Look, you can see the bone coming through."  
  
"It's dead alright, I ain't a doctor, but that is pretty busted up, what we gonna do about it?"  
  
Syd shrugged. "Let it keep dying?"  
  
"And you don't play one on TV," Two Bit added smartly.  
  
"No hospitals?" Soda asked.  
  
Syd looked at him, fear evident in her eyes. "Never." She took off running, ignoring the horrible pain in her hand.  
  
"I never understood that phobia of hospitals she has," Soda shrugged.  
  
"Maybe she's scared of the cleanliness," Two Bit smirked.  
  
Cody sighed exasperated, punched Two Bit for good measure and took off after her friend.  
  
Syd turned around slightly, and flipped Two-Bit off with the good hand. "I heard that you sonofabitch!!"  
  
"Yeah, you really shouldn't talk," Cody added as she sprinted past her friend, but yelling back at Two Bit, "You're just as bad."  
  
Syd stopped, and yelped in pain. "I can't go. I'll die. They'll kill me." She was shaking all over. She was like a dog when someone said 'bath'. Except it was hospital for her. "Give me your bandana, Code."  
  
"No prob chick," Cody undid the bandana on her head and handed it over to her friend.  
  
Syd nodded appreciatively, and wrapped the bandana around her hand. "I'll buy ya a new one." She cursed, and looked around. The gang had followed them. She smiled slightly at Soda. "All better!!" She held up the arm. "Even though it'll get infected, and someday fall off." She grinned.  
  
"Ah the wonders of Gange Green," Two Bit murmured, and some one elbowed him.  
  
Syd growled, and lunged at Two-Bit. "KEITH MATHEWS!! KEEP YOUR FRICKING THOUGHTS TO YOURSELF!!" She smacked her hand into his face, and yelped again. It was of course drowned out by Two Bit's own shriek from the mangled hand coming at his face, and also from the beer can that was no longer in his hand.  
  
Syd fell to the ground, tears pouring down her face. "Shit. I never cry. Code, I think I'm high."  
  
"You seein them Pushers again?" Darry growled.  
  
"I didn't give her nothin," Cody held up her hands as a sign of defeat.  
  
Syd shrugged. "And if I am."  
  
"I'll hunt him down and kill him," Cody growled.  
  
Syd shook her head. "Don't, he's kinda cute. But not as nice as Johnny."  
  
"I'll just hunt him down then, maybe beat him up for the hell of it, he shouldn't have given you nothin anyways." Cody sighed, relaxing her defensive composure a bit.  
  
Syd shrugged. "I think I'm gunna die." And then she went out cold.  
  
"I'll kill him anyway," Cody growled and kept on walking, leaving the gang to deal with her unconscious friend who had a phobia of hospitals, Cody was pissed, and that meant to stay out of her way, cuz anyone who got in it was bound to get their ass beat. Cody had no leads, but knew where to head, The Ribbon, any decent Pusher would be there, and a lot of them knew Syd. She hopped on the motorcycle she and Syd co-owned and sped off, looking for a way to manage the tightening in her stomach, looking for a way to manage her anger, looking, for a fight.  
  
***A/N: I dunno where this story is goin, just felt like posting it, tell me what you think, it's co-written with Legofodopip, so I hope you liked it, it's got a melting pot of S.E. Hinton's characters, hopefully, Lego doesn't mind I posted this, hehe, she doesn't know yet, muahaha, she'll know soon though, review, and maybe we'll write more, we might not, who knows, it depends on you shifty reviewer folk.*** 


	2. Chasing down a Pusher, and Thinking

Cody cruised down the Ribbon on her cycle, looking for the familiar hot spots she had dragged Syd out of before. She had to look carefully, there were a few more cops cruising the streets lately and they didn't take kindly to chicks on bikes. They were also trying to cut down on the drugs being dealt out, but the cops weren't very effective, that was why Cody was there.  
  
A blonde haired kid, stood outside, talking to a group of others, before handing a couple packages out, and recieving money. He spotted Cody, and smiled. The blonde's smile faltered some when he saw that the bike was being ridden by a different girl, it quite possibly could have been a different bike altogether, but he doubted it. This was definitely a different girl.  
  
The biker chick began to smile, she was thinking to herself, this guy recognized the bike that was one of a kind, and thought she was someone else. That was a good thing, Cody had found her man. "Like the bike?"  
  
Nodding, he grinned. "Yeah."  
  
"Yeah, one of a kind this baby, had it made special. You looked like you'd seen it before so I figured I stop in."  
  
He shrugged. "Yeah. I've seen it around. No need to stop by though."  
  
Cody inspected the lot they were in, it was pretty empty save for a few cars, but no people. She took advantage of that. She grabbed him by the jacket collar and thrust him up against the car behind him. "You sell to a chick, brown hair--yay high, scar on her arm?"  
  
He shrugged casually. "Don't know what you're talking about, babe."  
  
Cody's grip tightened against the leather and jammed a fist under his jaw, whatever you call me punk, just make sure it ain't babe, doll or anything else. I just wanna know what you sold the chick."  
  
He laughed. "Weed."  
  
"That all?"  
  
He nodded. "Yup."  
  
"It'd better be all, or else you'll be hearin from me."  
  
He grinned. "I'm not lying."  
  
"Alright," Cody loosened her grip and turned to leave, swinging back at his head for good measure clipping him pretty good.  
  
He yelped lightly. "Pretty good aim, for a girl." He cringed in pain just as a black pick up truck barrelled into the lot, turning off its lights.  
  
"Watch it kid, I could beat you without trying," Cody turned back to the truck, it looked familiar...  
  
The truck slowed and someone with loose brown hair tumbled out. Syd leaped on Cody. "Code. Stop. STOP IT!!  
  
"I wasn't gonna hurt him all that much, just playin around, y'know, when's the last time I got to kick someone's ass?"  
  
Syd grinned. "Earlier. Darry, remember? Come on. Let's go. I'm starved."  
  
"You outta be," the blonde kid behind Cody chuckled.  
  
Cody gave her friend a pleading look.  
  
Sydney shook her head. "Go beat up on Steve." She pushed her friend away from the blonde haired kid. "You ok, Mark?" She asked, as she slipped him money.  
  
"Hey, watch it," Cody reprimanded, "I'm standin right here."  
  
Sydney faltered a bit, and the blonde kid, Mark backed up out of Cody's reach.  
  
"I'll hit him extra hard if you buy any more."  
  
Syd growled in frustration. "Fine. See you around Mark." Syd backed off and started back towards the truck.  
  
Cody however fell back a step and swung out just in time to catch Mark's jaw when he bent down to pick up some loose money. "You're fried too aren't ya hun?"  
  
Mark shrugged and Syd yelled at her friend.  
  
"Alright, I'm comin!" Cody stomped on the poor kid's foot and threw herself into the bed of the truck to say something to the driver, when the truck started to burn out, Cody jumped out and got on her bike, following them out of the Ribbon and back home.  
  
When they got back to the house Cody lived at, Sydney tumbled out of the truck looking higher than when she had got in and Cody was worried. Sydney got high a lot, but lately she had cut back, so something else had to be going on. She waved Steve off and turned to her friend, "Syd?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Did Steve get high, or is that you?"  
  
Syd giggled drunkenly, "We hotboxed it."  
  
Cody shook her head. "What's going down chick?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Syd asked her blue eyes, slightly red and glazed, but wide and innocent, nearly the size of saucers.  
  
"You only get high when crazy shit is going down." Cody tried to think of examples. "When you got kicked out of your house, when you broke up with your boyfriend, when you got fired, and lately, when you're bored. But hun, you're with me, you ain't supposed to get bored!"  
  
Syd shrugged, "I'm the girl all the bad guys want."  
  
"Yeah," Cody agreed, "So is that the reason?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then what is?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Let's go to bed then." Cody led her rather unsturdy friend inside her home and let her get ready for bed. Cody just took off her jacket and tumbled into her own bed and lay on her back, thinking. She had always been there for Sydney, when she got kicked out of her house, Cody had welcomed her friend into her own home. They always did everything together, played together, smoked together, got in fights together. When Syd had lost her job after the boss had tried to make a move on her, Syd had been in shock for well over a month and lacking a job as well. She had turned to pot then too. But then Cody had gotten Syd a job at the DX Station where she worked, and they had met up with the Curtis gang there.  
  
Then most recently, last year some time, Sydney had gotten a boyfriend in the Brumly gang. He was a pretty cool guy too. The guys kinda tended to stay off Cody. She didn't have much in the way of looks, and had an all around bad attitude. When Syd had found out that the Brumly fellow had been cheating on her she thrashed his other girlfriend. Unbeknowest to her, Cody had made it her priority to beat up the boyfriend. The gang thought it was all Sydney and kinda stayed off. Syd had been in pretty rough shape then.  
  
Cody thought back to their most recent fights. Cody had always been in the shadows, ready to defend Sydney's back when need be. The guys would try something with Sydney and when it didn't go as planned they tried a bit of force, which didn't work and ended up with Cody nearly killing someone. So now Cody was emerging with her own title. Sydney was the Flirt and Cody was her guard dog and always ready to kick some ass and would do so given any occasion. When Sydney had turned to pot before, Cody had scared the Pushers into not selling to her friend for fear of their lives, but this Mark fellow, he was different. He would be harder to get through to because unlike most Pushers, he wasn't a User. 


	3. Breakfast with the Curtises

Finally Cody fell asleep, but she never remembered hearing Sydney come back in, but with Cody's lack of sleep, at the time it mattered little  
  
Syd grinned to herself, and poked Cody. "Wake up."  
  
Cody rolled off her bed and nearly into her friends arms. "What's up chick? Where you been?"  
  
She shrugged, her eyes dialated two times the size as they normally were. "Party."  
  
"Jesum, give it a rest will you, can't you only get stoned or drunk once a week or something?  
  
Sydney raised an eyebrow. "What're you talking about?"  
  
Cody laughed and changed rather casually. "Whatever chick."  
  
"Usted está fuera de su mente, Cody. Simplemente fuera de su mente. (You are out of it, Cody. Simply out of it.)" Sydney snapped, speaking in her native tongue.  
  
"Hoohoo, all hoity toity and Spanish now huh?" Cody laughed, "Where are we off to now? A round of pool, another party, the Curtis place, The Ribbon? You pick."  
  
Sydney sighed. "Curtis place. Where else?"  
  
"Ah yeah," Cody laughed, struggling to put on her jeans, and hopping out the door, let's go."  
  
Sydney nodded, following her friend. "My hand, I got it fixed."  
  
"Good, I was worried, but I figured you'd get it all taken care of."  
  
Syd nodded. "Sure." They soon reached the Curtis house, and knocked on the door.  
  
They were admitted of course and all took seats in the living room while the boys passed out chocolate cake, and to the occasional teen, beer. "So, what've you been up to, Darry?" Syd asked.  
  
"Since you two mugged me?" He tried to think.  
  
"Work," Ponyboy said, "What else does he do?"  
  
Syd grinned at Cody. "It doesn't surprise me. What about you, Pon?"  
  
"Reading, writing, what else?" Cody chimed in.  
  
Syd laughed. "You're right, he DOESN'T do anything."  
  
Soda gave Sydney the evil eye, "So, the kid's young, he can have his dreams, plus for the most part, he's got smarts, so he can probably fulfill 'em."  
  
"Syd," Cody nudged her friend, "Don't say anything you'll regret later."  
  
Syd laughed. "I was just joking. Excuse me!"  
  
The boys all nodded and continued with their cake, beer, and watching mickey mouse on the TV. "What do you want to do?" She whispered looking at the drab curains and furniture that lined the Curtis house, trying not to make eye contact with Cody, and talking to what seemed to be air.  
  
"Dunno, what is there to do?"  
  
She shrugged. "Don't ask me."  
  
Cody laughed. "If you don't mind boys, we're out. Probably gonna stroll along the Ribbon, terrorize the town, whatever looks like fun."  
  
"Terrorize hippies?" Dally asked his dark eyes lighting up with amusment.  
  
"If we feel like it," Sydney replied with that same dark humor.  
  
Johnny raised an eyebrow, and for once, spoke out. "That's kinda mean, don't ya think?"  
  
Syd laughed slightly. "So? Your point would be....?"  
  
Johnny shrugged. "Nothing. Have fun." He added weakly.  
  
Syd grinned evilly. "We will!"  
  
The two troublesome girls ran outside and paused at their bike. "You wanna drive?"Cody asked.  
  
"I'm drunk you moron." Syd remarked with a grin, before snatching the keys from her friend. "You better bet I'm gunna drive!"  
  
Cody rolled her eyes, "If you roll us or we spin out, only one of us is comin back alive and I'll put money on it, it won't be you."  
  
Syd shrugged. "Nothin' worth living for anyway. Come on." Syd hopped on the bike, and revved the engine, while waiting for Cody.  
  
Her friend grinned and hopped on the back, "Put ten bucks you can't get us up to 100 by the time we hit the Ribbon."  
  
"You're on!" Syd growled. Slamming on the gas, she headed up the street. The wind whipped at their hair blowing it in their eyes and faces, and making it hard to see. It wasn't a reason to slow down though, and in retaliation to it, Sydney sped up even more. Slowly reaching 100, she let out a whoop. She swerved, as a stray cat crossed the street. CRUNCH!! She let out a hollow laugh. "Cat's have nine lives, right?"  
  
"They do now," Cody agreed with a laugh in her friends ear.  
  
"Nope. That one only has eight." She stated, and slowed down to avoid hitting another 'speed bump'.  
  
"So uh, I guess I owe you that ten bucks now," Cody replied eyeing the speedometer peak and drop.  
  
"Naw. Keep it. I just wanted to see if I could do it. What am I gunna do with 10 bucks?" Syd stated.  
  
Cody laughed outright, "Come to think of it probably wouldn't have given you the cash cuz I know full well what you'd do with it."  
  
Syd shrugged. "I'm done with weed."  
  
"About time."  
  
There was an awkward silence and Cody began to think about what her friend had said, reading it a little too much. "So long as you don't start any other shit, cigarettes are just fine y'know."  
  
"I know. And I'm not gunna start with those either." Syd calmly replied. There was another brief pause and then Syd nodded. "Hey, there's Dal." Syd pulled off the road, and turned into where Dally was standing. "Hey." Syd shouted, trying to get his attention. He turned around, and stepped out of the way of his T-Bird so Syd could see the passenger's side. The car was filled with guys and smoke, with a certain blonde boy hanging out the window, his face concealed from the girls' street view. They knew who it was though. Cody heard her friend inhale sharpley, whether out of nervousness or to catch the smoke she didn't know. Cody herself straightened up in her seat and prepared for an odds-off rumble. 


End file.
